Lesbian couple named grand marshals of Staten Island Gay Pride Parade

Advance file photoKatie Cumiskey, left, and Robin Garber are co-owners of Bent Pages in Stapleton, a used book store that focuses on LGBT literature.

The first lesbian couple to have their marriage announcement in the Staten Island Advance have been chosen as grand marshals of our 2010 LGBT Parade, to be held June 5 in St. George. Robin Garber and Dr. Kathleen (Katie) Cumiskey of West Brighton traveled to Toronto, Canada, to get married in 2006.

Ms. Garber and Ms. Cumiskey of West Brighton traveled to Toronto, Canada, to get married in 2006.

Ms. Garber helped found the College of Staten Island's LGBT Alliance in the early 1990s, she was an educator for the Staten Island AIDS Task Force (now Community Healthy Action of Staten Island) and was named coordinator of GMHC's Lesbian AIDS Project before becoming a special education teacher in 2003.

Robin was a past president of Lambda Associates of Staten Island, a former social group for gays and lesbians, and helped form the Staten Island chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG).

Dr. Cumiskey earned her undergraduate degree in psychology at Rutgers University (N.J.), where her honors thesis was on homophobia and its impact on social interaction. While earning her Ph. D. at CUNY, she was active in establishing Queer CUNY. She is an assistant professor in the Psychology Department and Women's Studies Program at the College of Staten Island, where she is the faculty advisor to the College's Gay/Straight Alliance.

As a couple, Robin and Katie in 2008 found Bent Pages in Stapleton, which is now the only LGBT bookstore remaining in NYC. They are also founding members of Staten Island Pride Events, an organization that holds LGBT events throughout the year.

After being chosen Robin and Katie, in a joint e-mail, said, "We are so grateful to have been chosen Grand Marshals. It is humbling to follow in the footsteps of those who served as such inspiring leaders of our LGBT community. We are so honored that we have been selected to join them. Over the years, we have, first individually, then together as a couple, worked hard to help bring Staten Island forward in the journey toward tolerance, acceptance, and love of all people, and especially our beloved LGBT community. As a devoted couple deeply committed to each other, as parents, grandparents, as friends, as educators, as activists, we have always strived to keep our lesbian identities visible and toe encourage Staten Island in heroic efforts to embrace diversity."

All are welcome to a special Staten Island Pride kick-off event to install Robin and Katie as the Grand Marshals on Saturday, May 22, in the Staten Island Museum, 75 Stuyvesant Place, St. George from 7 to 10 p.m. The entrance fee is $3.